She went to watch a movie and ended up changing a theater worker’s life
It’s becoming something of a trend: young people encountering elders working long past retirement age and raising thousands for them to finally take a rest.
The latest instance comes from Maryville, Tennessee, where an elderly theater worker was surprised with $146,000.
Raised through GoFundMe, it all started when 21-year-old Brooklyn Green settled spontaneously on plans to see a movie at the local AMC. There, she saw an elderly woman with a bent back collecting trash.”I just saw her work ethic. She was just working really hard,” Green told local news.
Recording her pushing and pulling the trash cart for a TikTok clip, she thought she’d start a GoFundMe and maybe raise a month’s rent from family and friends.
The clip, and TikTok, had their own ideas. It went viral and channeled over $100,000 in just the first day. The next day, Green returned to the theater to surprise her, and even in that interval the fundraiser jumped another $46,000.
The woman, named Mary, wasn’t there that day, but the shift manager told Green she’s worked in theaters for more than 45 years.
“She loves it,” he explained, and also relayed Mary’s concerns that stopping work at her age “might make things ‘go downhill’ for her,” WVLT 8 in Knoxville reported.
Green did eventually surprise Mary in a meet-and-greet recorded for the GoFundMe donors.”Thank you so very much to all the wonderful people who have donated money,” Mary said.
